After a couple of enquiries on the way, William ended up outside a door on the second floor where he was greeted with a sign that read in large gold letters:
He knocked and waited until he heard the command, ‘Enter,’ before he walked into a large, comfortably furnished room that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Buckingham Palace, rather than Buckingham Gate. The walls were lined with photographs of Milner with various members of the Royal Family, leaving the impression they were close friends.
‘Sit down, Warwick,’ said the Superintendent, without any suggestion of a welcome. William hadn’t even sat down before he added, ‘I understand you bawled out one of my officers when he was off duty.’
‘If you’re referring to Sergeant Jennings, sir, when I arrived this morning at sixteen minutes to eight, he was unshaven and incorrectly dressed, despite still being on duty. I didn’t bawl him out. But I did leave him in no doubt how I felt about his attitude and appearance while serving as a police officer.’
The look on Milner’s face rather suggested he wasn’t in the habit of being addressed in this manner by a junior officer. ‘Try to remember, Warwick, they still report to me and not you.’ He stared long and hard at William, before adding, ‘That is of course, Chief Inspector, unless it’s my job you’re after.’
‘I have no interest in your job, Superintendent. Only doing mine.’
‘Frankly, Warwick,’ he said, ‘I’m at a loss to work out what your job is.’
‘I’ve been asked by the Commissioner to make a comprehensive report on the workings of this unit, to see if any improvements can be made.’ William took an envelope from his inside pocket and handed it across to the Superintendent.
‘I’m confident, Chief Inspector,’ said Milner after he’d read the enclosed instructions, ‘that you’ll find everything in this outfit is running smoothly and above board.’ William wondered why he’d unnecessarily added the words ‘above board’. Always wait for a sentence the suspect will later regret, the Hawk had taught him. ‘Be assured that if I can assist you in any way, I’ll be only too happy to do so,’ continued Milner. ‘But frankly, I think you’re wasting your time.’
‘Let’s hope you’re right, sir,’ said William. ‘However, would it be possible for DC Pankhurst and me to have an office that doesn’t suggest we’re the janitors?’
‘I don’t have any spare rooms at the moment.’
‘Perhaps one of your Constables could—’
‘And perhaps they couldn’t,’ snapped Milner.
‘I’ll also need a secretary,’ came back William, ‘who can spell as well as type, before we begin to interview all sixty-three members of your staff at Buckingham Gate, as well as those based at Windsor.’
‘Is that really necessary?’ asked Milner, his voice softening. ‘After all, my lads have demanding schedules, and I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that the Royal Family don’t exactly keep office hours.’
‘I’ll try not to interfere with their daily duties,’ William assured him, ‘but if I’m to complete a meaningful report for the Commissioner—’
‘I’ll want to see that report before you hand it in,’ interrupted Milner.
‘Of course, sir. I’ll keep you informed of my progress at all times, and I feel sure your staff will do the same.’
‘Anything else, Warwick, before I’m allowed to get on with my job?’ asked the Superintendent curtly.
‘Yes, sir. Two members of my team, DS Adaja and DS Roycroft, will be based at Windsor Castle during our inquiry. Can I hope they received a warmer welcome this morning than I did?’
‘If you’d let us know when you were coming, Chief Inspector, I would have been here to welcome you myself,’ said Milner, not attempting to hide his irritation.
‘That would have rather defeated the purpose, sir,’ said William, not flinching.
‘And what might that purpose be?’
‘Simply to prove that your section is, to quote the Commissioner’s instructions, fit for purpose.’
‘I’m confident you’ll find that is the case. However, you need to understand right from the start that Royalty Protection Command is a unique outfit, to which the normal rules don’t apply. Try not to forget, Warwick, we are only answerable to the Royal Family, no one else.’
‘We are all servants of the Crown, Superintendent. However, I’m also answerable to Commander Hawksby, who in turn will be reporting to the Commissioner.’
The look on the Superintendent’s face suggested he was well aware of the Hawk’s reputation.
‘I feel sure we’ll be able to rub along together,’ said Milner, the bully suddenly replaced by the sycophant. ‘William, isn’t it?’
‘Chief Inspector Warwick, sir.’
‘You have to try and understand, Warwick, the challenges I have to face on a daily basis.’
‘I’ll do my best to ensure that everyone is given the chance to explain those challenges in great detail, sir.’
‘If that’s your attitude, Warwick, you might do well to remember that my boss outranks Commander Hawksby,’ said Milner, barely able to keep his temper.
‘Not to mention the Commissioner, sir,’ said William. ‘I’ll be sure to let my boss know your thoughts on the subject.’
‘I think it’s time for you to leave, Warwick.’ Milner picked up the phone on his desk. ‘I’m about to have a word with your commander, so don’t bother to settle in. I have a feeling you’ll be heading back to Scotland Yard later today. Get me Commander Hawksby at the Yard,’ he barked down the phone while waving a dismissive hand in William’s direction.
‘Thank you, sir,’ said William, before leaving the room and closing the door quietly behind him. He returned to the room in the basement to find that Rebecca had somehow managed to commandeer several boxes of paper, a typewriter and even a filing cabinet.
‘How did it go?’ she asked.
‘It could have been worse,’ said William, after relaying their conversation, ‘but I can’t imagine how.’
‘Does that mean we’ll be back at the Yard in time for lunch?’
‘You know very well the Hawk doesn’t approve of lunch breaks,’ said William as he sat down at his desk and waited for the phone to ring.
Chapter 10
‘In theory, this one should be an open-and-shut case,’ declared Sir Julian as he paced around his office clutching the lapels of his jacket as if addressing a jury. ‘However, in practice,’ he paused before continuing, ‘there are one or two anomalies the Crown is unable to ignore.’
Neither Grace nor Clare interrupted their leader while they took notes.
‘Let’s begin with the facts of the case. The defendant, Miles Faulkner, escaped from police custody while attending his mother’s funeral and, some months later, staged his own funeral to convince the police he was dead.’
‘Mrs Faulkner even offered to supply his ashes,’ said Clare, ‘but I explained to her that we haven’t yet mastered how to identify someone’s DNA from their ashes.’
‘Faulkner would have been well aware of that — otherwise he wouldn’t have offered them on a silver platter,’ said Sir Julian. ‘However, what he couldn’t have anticipated was a vigilant policewoman’ — he paused and looked down at the notes on his desk to check her name — ‘Detective Constable Rebecca Pankhurst,’ he continued, ‘who spotted Faulkner’s lawyer, Mr Booth Watson, in a departure lounge at Heathrow, waiting to board a flight for Barcelona. DC Pankhurst interrupted her own holiday so she could join him on that flight without him being aware of her presence. Thanks to the cooperation of the Spanish police,’ said Sir Julian, still perambulating, ‘Scotland Yard were able to track down Faulkner, who was living in a large, secluded country house a few miles outside the Catalan capital.